of 

BOX 737 - PELICAN, ALASKA 99832 - PHONE: 735-2202/2203 - FAX: 735-2258 - EMAIL: cityhal l@pelicancity.org - WEBSITE: www.pelican.net 

November 10, 2014 

Mr. Todd Homan 

Director, Office of Aviation Analysis 

US Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Mr. Homan, 

Enclosed is City of Pelican Resolution 2014-12: A Resolution of the City of Pelican expressing support to 

the United States Department of Transportation to preserve Pelican's Essential Air Service (EAS) to 

Juneau, and approve Alaska Seaplanes to Continue EAS Service to Pelican for another four years. 

Also enclosed is a copy of a letter, signed by the mayors of Angoon, Pelican and Tenakee Springs, 

submitted to the Alaska Congressional Delegation regarding their concerns about the EAS program. 

Thank you. 

Sincerely, ?!J 

<p~ cetvJLru 

Patricia Phillips 

Mayor 

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR - PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT - PELICAN HEALTH CLINIC - PELICAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT 
City of Pelican, Alaska PO Box 737 Pelican, Alaska 99832 

(907) 735-2202 Fax (907) 735-2258 

RESOLUTION 2014 - 12 

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PELICAN EXPRESSING SUPPORT TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 

OF TRANSPORTATION TO PRESERVE PELICAN'S ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE (EAS) TO JUNEAU, AND 

APPROVE ALASKA SEAPLANES TO CONTINUE EAS SERVICE TO PELICAN FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS 

WHEREAS, Juneau, Alaska is Pelican, Alaska's regional air service hub and scheduled air service to 

Juneau represents a vital connection to emergency services, basic necessities, and business and leisure 

travelers, constituting a "community of interest''; and 

WHEREAS, Pelican is guaranteed scheduled air service under the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act, and the 

United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Essential Air Service program; and 

WHEREAS, the purpose of the EAS program is to ensure that communities have air service access where 

there would not otherwise be access; and 

WHEREAS, USDDOT is threatening to eliminate Pelican's air service link to Juneau by recognizing less 

frequent, more expensive and lower capacity service to Sitka as sufficiently constituting "essential air 

service," despite reduced demand for air service between Sitka and Pelican - a decision that will have 

significant adverse effects on our community and economy; and 

WHEREAS, Angoon, Tenakee Springs and Pelican have united to prevent any reduction of air service to 

Juneau, imploring Alaska's Congressional delegation to prevail upon USDOT referencing the 1980 Civil 

Aeronautics Board determination that EAS to Angoon, Tenakee Springs and Pelican must be offered 

from Juneau and Juneau only; and 

WHEREAS, Alaska Seaplanes operates scheduled essential air service between Juneau and Pelican, and 

has provided safe and reliable service to Pelican for 17 years carrying passengers, mail and freight; and 

WHEREAS, Alaska Seaplanes has partnered with the City on a Small Community Air Service grant, a 

major economic development opportunity designed to improve our ability to market our community to 

Juneau, the Lower 48 and beyond. 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: 

The City of Pelican calls on the United States Department of Transportation to reaffirm Essential Air 

Service to Pelican with access to our longstanding Juneau air service hub, and to expeditiously approve 

the proposal of Alaska Seaplanes to continue serving Pelican for no less than another four year term. 

PAssED, APPRovED AND ADOPTED THis Jth DAY oF N C\\ftm h m2o14. 

Signed: ?~ :PJ.~ Patricia Phillips, Mayor 

~ffi~ Kel y L Chap an, City Clerk 
October 27,2014 

The Honorable Mark Begich 

United States Senate 

Suite 308 

One Sealaska Plaza 

Juneau, AK 99801 

The Honorable Don Young 

US House of Representatives 

4241 B Street 

Suite 203 

Anchorage, AK 99503 

Dear Senators and Congressman Young: 

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski 

United States Senate 

800 Glacier Avenue 

Suite 101 

Juneau, AK 99801 

We are writing to request your immediate assistance regarding an urgent crisis facing our 

communities-the US Department of Transportation's threat to cut our Essential Air Senrice 

(EAS) from Juneau. 

In a September 22, 2014 Request for EAS Proposals, US Department ofTransportation Office of 

Aviation Analysis (OAA) Director Todd Homan suggested that if Sitka-based Harris Air offers a 

minimum schedule from Sitka to our communities without subsidy, a service below the level of essential 

air service the DOT established 35 years ago for these isolated Alaska communities, DoT will consider 

terminating our Juneau Essential Air Service. 1 In response, each of us sent letters to DoT strongly 

objecting to this threat. We have not yet received responses. On October 24, the situation became more 

serious, as Harris Air has now acted on DOT's invitation and proposed EAS service from Sitka to our 

communities. Harris proposes lower frequency and higher fares to Sitka than we currently enjoy to 

Juneau. Our primary objection is that it will economically cripple our communities to substitute longstanding main-line passenger and US mail service from Juneau for lesser, below-EAS established, service 

from Sitka. 

As you know, Angoon, Tenakee Springs, Pelican and Elfin Cove are guaranteed essential air service by 

the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act. After the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law, the thenCivil Aeronautics Board (CAB) fanned out across Alaska seeking community input on service patterns, 

frequencies and "eligible" hubs to meet the new Essential Air Service requirements. In 1980, the DOT 

formally established minimum levels of"essential air service" that must be maintained to each of our 

communities in DOT Order 80-1-167 (attached). Most importantly, DOT Order 80-1-167 stipulates that 

essential air service be provided to Juneau, as our hub airport. 

As described in Determination 80-1-167, the CAB wrote, "Based on this information, we have made an 

analysis to determine each point's primary community of interest, and to determine which hub or regional 

center would assure the community access to the national air transportation system." Upon concluding 

this fact-finding, Juneau was designated the hub for air service to and from Angoon, Tenakee, Pelican and 

Elfin Cove. Sitka is not even designated as a lesser "regional center" for air service, much less an "FAA 

hub" for Alaska as Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Seattle are designated. Sitka is not an aviation hub 

in regulation or in reality. Nor could Sitka even be called a "community of interest." 

1 See attached Order DOT-OST-2002-11586-0045 
Juneau has been our communities' air service hub, and the hub for all communities in Northern Southeast 

Alaska, for eighty years. Juneau is our state capitaL Juneau's population supports large scale grocery, 

equipment and supply businesses such as Costco, Home Depot and Walmart. Juneau is the headquarters 

for Angoon's village native corporation-Kootznoowoo, Inc., and the headquarters of the regional native 

corporation, Sealaska. And Juneau is Alaska Airlines' hub for Southeast, and a destination for Delta 

Airlines. 

Angoon, Tenakee and Pelican depend on essential air service operated by Alaska Seaplanes to carry our 

US mail, from Juneau-where it is processed. It is unclear whether mail could or would be re-rerouted 

through Sitka, and whether Harris Air's two amphibious aircraft are even capable of handling the same 

mail weight and volume as Alaska Seaplane's five straight-float aircraft. 

DOT appears to be amending the EAS detennination by footnote, without seeking input from the affected 

communities. This would set a significant adverse precedent that could dramatically impact service to 

rural Alaskan communities. 

Juneau is where many of our families live. It is where many of our elders reside. It is where many of the 

second home owners in our communities make their first home. And it is where some of our locals go for 

work. USDoT's consideration of substituting a Sitka hub for Juneau disregards their own regulations, 

flouts 80 years of established service pattern, and defies common sense. The loss of essential air service 

to Juneau in favor of Sitka would be socially and economically devastating to our communities. It may 

be easy from a bureaucratic standpoint, sitting 3,000 miles from here, to see two points on a map as 

equidistant, but that does not make them equal. 

We seek your immediate assistance to weigh in strongly with the Secretary of Transportation and ensure 

that our Juneau essential air service is maintained. 

Sincerely, 

Matt Kookesh, Jr. 

MayorofAngoon,Alaska 

Don Pegues 

Mayor of Tenakee Springs, Alaska 

fc,~9~ 

Patricia Phillips 

Mayor of Pelican, Alaska 

cc: Governor Sean Parnell 

Dennis Meier, Mayor of Elfin Cove, Alaska 

Henrich Kadake, Mayor ofKake, Alaska